Drinking box for rodents



px'i 2L H953 E, A, F KUNTZ 2,635,3@2

DRINKING BOX FOR RODENTS Filed Dec. so. 1947 ,l/ j0/ i Y j? 23 @i l` 'j' JNVENToR.

/zf @F12/Jia? Patented Apr. 21, 1953 l DRINKNG BOX FOR RODENTS Elmer A. F. Kuntz, Chicago, Ill., assigner to Lien Chemical Company, a corporation of Illinois Application December 30, 1947, Serial No. 794,654

(Cl. Li3--13ll 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a new and improved drinking box for rodents.

A principal object of this invention is the provision of means in a poison drinking box for rodents in which rodents are permitted free entrance and exit to the box without danger of the poison being available to pet animals or children.

An important object of this invention is to provide a poison drinking container having openings for rodents and means in another side thereof for removably attaching a poison holding tray.

Another important object oi this invention is to provide a poison drinking station for rats or other rodents especially for use in factories or shops in which the poison may be readily replen ished and the drinking station does not interfere with the natural running paths of the rats and mice.

Still another important object of this invention is the provision of means for safely dispensing poison for rats with a substantially enclosed container.

A further important object of this invention is to provide a relatively shallow tray for liquid `poison with a reservoir arranged and constructed to automatically refill and maintain a constant level of poison liquid in the drinking tray.

Other and further important objects of this invention will become apparent from the disclosures in the following specication and accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the drinking box for rodents shown in operating position.

Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the box taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 and showing the poison drinking tray and reservoir therefor.

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the poison holding reservoir.

As shown in the drawing:

The reference numeral lil indicates generally a iioor of a building infested by rodents. The iioor is provided with an adjacent wall I i having a base board I2.

It is known that rats avoid open spaces. rlhey are reluctant to cross streets or alleys and thus stay on one side. In buildings the rats live up to their outside traits by staying close to the walls. The floor next to the baseboard is the preferred path of rats and therefore the ideal place for traps or poison drinking or feeding containers.

A poison drinking box I 3 substantially rectangular in shape has a back wall I I which is attached by means of screws or the like I5 to the baseboard I2.. The box bottom I6 is iixed to the back I 4 and is placed flat on the door It. The box I3 includes end walls I'I and i8 fixed to the back Il and bottom I6. Openings I9 and 20 in the end walls I' and I8 respectively are located adjacent the back and bottom of the box and are of a size to permit easy entrance and exit for rats or the like. The openings i2 and 2U are in alignment and thus the box I3 does notl interrupt the natural path of rats along the baseboard. A top 2| completes the iixed portions of the box I3.

The front 22 isremovably positioned on the box I3. As best shown in Fig. 2 the front panel 22 is provided with an integral shelf or ledge 23 which is slidably positioned on the bottom I6 of the box I3.

The upper portion of the front 22 is fastened to the top 2l by means of a hinged locking member 24. The locking member 24 includes a rearwardly extending portion 25 which is iixedly attached to the top 2| of the box and a downwardly extending slotted latch 2G swingably attached by a hinge 2l to the stationary portion 23. A hasp 28 is aixed to the front panel 22. When the front 22 is in its closed position on the box I3 as shown in Figs. l and 2 the latch 26 swings down over the hasp 28 and a lock 29 placed on the hasp 28 insures the maintenance of the front panel and its integral shelf 23 in position on the box I3.

A shallow drinking tray 39 is iixed in position on the shelf 23 against the inside of the front panel 22 by means of nails or the like 40 which engage the shelf 23. A liquid poison 32 is placed in the tray 33 and is available to rats as they run through the path defined by the opposed openings I9 and 20.

The shallow tray is necessary so the rats have the liquid poison in such a readily accessible position that they do not pass it by. Because the tray is shallow it does not hold a great quantity of liquid and without other provision it would have to be serviced or relled too often. In the present invention a liquid poison reservoir 3l .is in the form of an inverted bottle having a restricted neck 32. The neck 32 is provided with external threads 33 which are engageable by a bottom cap 34. The cap 34 includes a downwardly depending post or the like 35 and spaced small openings 3B and 31 in the bottom thereof. The post 35 maintains a xed space between the bottom of the drinking tray 39 and the underside of the cap 34. The level of the liquid poison in the tray 39 acts as a valve for the liquid in the reservoir. After rats have drunk from the tray 39 the liquid level drops below the level of the underside of the cap 34 and thus the openings 36 and 31 are exposed. Dispensing of liquid from a restricted neck bottle held in a vertical position is relatively slow. Air normally tends to replace the dispensed liquid within the bottle and as it is difiicult for the air to get in the liquid comes out very slowly. Liquid drops down through the opening 36 and is eased in its travel by air vented to the interior of the bottle by the opening 31. As shown in Fig. 3 the vent opening 31 is inclined toward the outside of the bottle. The reservoir 3| is held in vertical position by the strap 38 fastened to the front panel 22.

It will thus be seen that in operation, as the poison in the tray is used up the tray is automatically reiilled by the liquid in the reservoir bottle. Normal liquid level in the tray stops iiow from the reservoir as it covers the openings 3S and 31, but as soon as the height of liquid level is reduced the openings 36 and 37 permit flow to the tray.

The rodent drinking boxes of this invention may thus be placed and fixed in buildings and require only infrequent servicing as the reservoir of liquid poison maintains the feeding tray lled for considerable time. The box is entirely safe because its contents are sealed against tarnpering by the lock 29. In servicing the box the front panel 22, the shelf 23, the drinking tray 39, and the reservoir 3| slide outwardly as a unit from the stationary part of the box. Liquid poison is then put in the reservoir 3l and the removable unit reinserted and locked in place by the lock 29. The poison drinking box is thus prepared for an additional period of time and the building in which the boxes are placed is kept relatively free of rats.

I am aware that numerous details of construction may be varied throughout a wide range without departing from the principles disclosed herein, and I therefore do not propose limiting the patent granted hereon otherwise than as necessitated by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A drinking box for rodents comprising a back wall, top and bottom, and end walls all in iixed relationship, said end walls having aligned apertures adjacent the back wall and bottom and of a size just to accommodate rodents, a front wall removably positionable on said drinking box to completely close said box except for the end wall apertures, and a drinking tray xed to said front wall and arranged and constructed to be positioned internally of said drinking box.

2. A poison drinking box for rodents comprising a stationary part forming an enclosure having rodent openings therein and another separate opening, a unit removably fastened over said other separate opening, said removably fastened unit including a poison drinking tray projecting inwardly adjacent a path defined by the rodent openings, and said poison drinking tray constituting an integral part of said removably fastened unit.

3. A poison drinking box for rodents comprising a substantially rectangular box, means for attaching the back of the box to the baseboard of a building wall with the bottom of the box resting on the building floor, the opposed end walls of the box having aligned rodent apertures, said apertures located adjacent the baseboard and floor whereby an unbroken path is maintained along the floor adjacent the baseboard, means for providing poison within said drinking box, said means including a removable front panel for said drinking box, a shelf at a right angle to and aixed to the bottom of the front panel, and latch means for fastening the top of the front panel to the top of the box.

ELMER A. F. KUNTZ.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 252,301 Thompson Jan. 10, 1882 296,853 Ledig Apr. 15, 1884 1,107,206 Schwartzburg Aug. 11, 1914 1,113,842 Sill Oct. 13, 1914 1,321,360 Bright Nov. 11, 1919 1,869,901 Le Fever Aug. 2, 1932 1,994,859 Langum Mar. 19, 1935 2,291,358 Treadwell et al. July 28, 1942 2,299,723 Allbright Oct. 27, 1942 2.532.681 Stover Dec. 5. 1950 

